Happy Hijri Year 1448: Al-Aqsa is in a huge danger and Many Muslims are still refugees

Happy and blessed New Hijri Year 1448 to all Muslims in the world, especially to the Muslim refugees.

Today marks Muharram 1, 1448 AH.

Today is the start of the new Islamic Hijri Year 1448.

Once again, I have to remind people that our Islamic calendar began more than fourteen centuries ago when Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his companions, the first Muslims, sought refuge and safety in Yathrib, which later became Medina, the first capital of the Islamic state.

The early Muslims were refugees. In fact, almost all the prophets of the Abrahamic faiths and their earliest followers experienced displacement, exile, or persecution. It seems to be a recurring chapter in the story of faith.

As of 2026, the Muslim world is once again home to some of the largest displaced populations on Earth. Approximately 6 million Palestinian refugees remain registered with UNRWA, while about 4.9 million Syrian refugees continue to live outside their homeland, primarily in neighboring countries and across Europe.

Afghanistan accounts for roughly 3.7 million refugees, most of them residing in Iran and Pakistan. Since the outbreak of war in Sudan in 2023, more than 2.8 million Sudanese have fled across international borders into Egypt, Chad, South Sudan, and other countries. Meanwhile, over 1.3 million Rohingya refugees remain displaced, mainly in Bangladesh.

Together, these refugee populations alone exceed 18 million people.

Beyond refugees, millions more are internally displaced persons (IDPs) — people forced to flee their homes while remaining within their own countries. Yemen continues to have roughly 4.8 million internally displaced people, while the latest regional conflict has temporarily displaced more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon and up to 3.2 million in Iran.

In addition, millions of Palestinians in Gaza and Sudanese inside Sudan remain internally displaced because of ongoing warfare.

Taken together, refugees and internally displaced persons linked to major conflicts across the Muslim world now number well over 30 million people.

These figures represent one of the largest concentrations of human displacement in modern history — the enduring human cost of war, occupation, persecution, state collapse, and regional instability.

At the same time, I will say it again: this is happening while there are extremely wealthy Muslim countries that, technically speaking, possess significant influence over global energy markets.

Sadly, some of those countries have played direct or indirect roles in displacing fellow Muslims and contributing to the crises that have turned millions into refugees around the globe.

We begin this new Hijri year at a time when Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam, faces growing existential challenges.

Personally, I believe that Al-Aqsa Mosque is, in God's eyes, less important than the thousands of innocent people who have been killed in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran over the past three years.

Still, I am furious that some Arab and Gulf states have appeared more concerned with protecting oil facilities and infrastructure than protecting Al-Aqsa, which faces a mounting existential threat.

The issue is no longer simply about ultra-nationalist Jewish groups storming the holy site more frequently than before or about routine violations of the status quo.

It is about what appears to be a serious effort by Israel and the United States to fundamentally alter that status quo and end Jordan's historic custodianship of the mosque and its compound.

According to Middle East Eye (MEE), Israel and the United States support plans that would replace Jordanian custodianship and management with a new body established by the Israeli government, which would redefine Al-Aqsa Mosque as a "multi-faith centre."

Supporters of such proposals reportedly include Jared Kushner, whose family has funded the construction of Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a Christian Zionist who has long advocated policies aligned with the Israeli settler movement.

I take these reports seriously because Israeli officials and public figures have not hidden their long-term ambitions regarding Jordanian custodianship of the mosque. Ending that custodianship has repeatedly been presented as a necessary step toward broader plans for the site.

I am concerned that such a proposal could eventually be presented as part of a wider regional arrangement following any future U.S.-Iran agreement.

This is the state of the Muslim world today. It feels as though we are desperately in need of a miracle.

But God (SWT) does not help the passive.

Anyhow, Happy Hijri New Year 1448. May the passive become proactive this year, inshallah.